1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a sliding roof for vehicles. Particularly, the invention relates to a sliding roof for vehicles of the type in which a slidable panel slides outwardly and rearwardly of a roof opening.
2. Description of Relevant Art
In a sliding roof for vehicles of the type in which, to open a roof opening, a slidable panel is caused to have the rear part thereof raised from the roof opening and then slide over the rear part of the roof of the vehicle, it has been desired that when the roof opening is open the slidable panel becomes substantially horizontal with its inclination angle relatively small, whereas, as the inclination angle of the sliding roof becomes large, the wind pressure resistance of the vehicle increases during travel, thus increasing the fuel consumption rate and wind noise level, and resulting in other disadvantages.
Moreover, when the roof opening is opened, the slidable panel is required to be firmly and strongly supported.
There have been proposed sliding roofs which take the foregoing features into consideration, for example, the one proposed in UK patent Application GB No. 2,068,304 A in which a screw telescope, expandable and contractible by means of a threaded cable, is arranged substantially upright on a roof frame at the rear part of a roof opening and, to open the roof opening, a slidable panel is caused to have the rear part thereof raised upwardly with the screw telescope and moved rearwardly, while with the rearward movement of the slidable panel the screw telescope is driven to contract so as to minimize the inclination angle of the sliding panel.
However, using the combination of the screw telescope and the threaded cable, this known sliding roof has a complex structure, thus failing to simplify assembly work and reduce costs of manufacture. Moreover, the upright arrangement of the screw telescope accompanies a sliding mechanism projecting inwardly of the passenger area to a relatively large extent. Further, besides other problems, when the roof opening is fully opened, the supporting of the slidable panel becomes frontwardly one-sided, thus failing to secure the stability at the rear trailing end of the slidable panel.